I wanted to get in an early Memorial Day run, but with an evening downpour, I knew the trails would be slick and I couldn’t risk twisting the bad ankle. So instead I discovered that Striders was putting on a half marathon up in Syracuse. That would be a nice tempo run and wouldn’t do any damage to the foot, so I got up early and made the drive up north. It had only been nine days since I ran Ogden Marathon and two days since I ran 23 miles on the Sapper Joe course. Oh well, I would give it a try.
I ran in the Sapper Joe 50K held at Camp Williams, Utah in Bluffdale, about six miles from my home. Well, actually I ran 23 miles on the course during the race. I never entered the race, but I’ll get to this. This is a new race run entirely on a military base on dirt roads normally closed to the public. But thanks to Lt. Colonel Milada Copeland, a talented ultrarunner, this new race became possible.
I ran in the Ogden Marathon, in Ogden, Utah, a fast beautiful race that is mostly downhill. It would be only my third attempt at a road marathon in comparison to 46 finishes at the ultra marathon distance. I was nervous going into this race, for good reason, because I had not fully recovered from a non-minor foot injury. I had really not run seriously for five weeks, when I last raced a 50-mile race. I had only started to do some treadmill miles a few days earlier. My theory for going ahead with this race is that the injured tendon is not very involved in straight ahead flat road running. On the other hand, on trails, the tendon if very involved to keep balance. So I decided to go ahead and give it a try. How would I do without any significant running training in five weeks? I did swim many miles in the pool to keep my fitness up, but I was nervous that my leg muscles weren’t tuned well enough to maintain the fast intense speed of a marathon.
While still recoverying from my injury, I’m still running in my dreams.
Running dreams are funny. I had a very vivid running dream a few nights ago. I dreamed that I was running in the Wasatch 100, but it was all screwy of course. I arrived at an aid station, but had to run through a house. (It is funny how most of my running dreams involve running through a house). On the other side of the house I went out the door but the course was no longer marked outside the house. I found myself in Washington D.C. I along with other runners were frustrated not knowing where to go next. It seemed like we had to circle around the National Mall, but I wasn’t sure what road to take. I was confused that this mountain course was in the city. Still lost, I returned to the house and organized several other runners to go through the streets with me. We each took a different street hoping that we could find some course markings. The race volunteers at the house were of no help and refused to tell us the right way to go. This approach didn’t work and I returned frustrated again to the house. I had now wasted several hours. A T.V. was on and a reporter was interviewing the winner of the Wasatch 100. Wow, he had already finished! Hold it, it was still light outside. How could he finish a 100-miler before sunset? I thought, gee, the front-runners knew the course, they have done it before. But that thought confused me because I realized that I had run the course before a couple times. Very strange. Why was I in Washington D.C.? Finally I woke up in a state of running confusion. Got to love those 100-mile race dreams. I’m always getting lost.
With an injured foot, I moved my ultra-distance from the trails to the pool. This morning I swam four miles, my PR longest distance in the pool in one stretch. This week I swam a total of 13 miles. Not bad for starting swimming just 11 days ago. I had not been swimming for about 20 months before that. I am surprised how quickly I have found my swimming endurance again. The swimming is strengthening my core and upper body. My speed isn’t blazing, averaged 45-minute miles, but it is steady and consistent.
Today I ran for the first time in 14 days. With this injury, I have read that barefoot running is possible as things heal. I ran three miles on the treadmill without pain. I’m encouraged now. I’ll continue to be careful. I won’t be able to swim next week because of a business trip, but perhaps I can do treadmill miles and bike.